Kyle Madsen, a 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward from Dublin, has decided to transfer from Vanderbilt University to a school closer to home, and the University of Dayton is one of five Ohio schools stipulated on his scholarship release. 

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings made the announcement Tuesday. Madsen, who was a redshirt freshman last year, also listed Miami University, Ohio University, Xavier and Ohio State as schools of interest to him.

If he transfers to a Division I school, he will have to sit out the 2006-07 season.

UD coach Brian Gregory, who recruited Madsen when he played at Dublin Coffman High School, said he is aware of Madsen's decision but has not spoken to him.

Neil Madsen, Kyle's father, was quoted in the statement saying, "Kyle was treated wonderfully at Vanderbilt. It is a great school, and coach Stallings and his staff are great people. Kyle simply wanted to get closer to home. That's where the crux of his decision was made."

"We understand Kyle's desire to be closer to home," Stallings said. "He is an outstanding young man and we wish him nothing but the best."

In the class of 2005, Madsen was considered one of the best centers in Ohio. He averaged 16.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while earning Ohio Capital Conference player of the year honors at Dublin Coffman.

"Susan has a great personality," Jabir said. "She is outgoing and very hard working. Susan brings a lot of energy and she is a good fit for our program."

While at UA, Blauser coordinated travel and team equipment while directing the Zips' community service activities. She also helped to recruit the first ever Street & Smith All-American to play at Akron.

Blauser came to Akron from Boston University where she spent the 2003-04 season as an assistant coach. In addition to working with the post players, she served as the Terriers' recruiting coordinator and facilitated preseason conditioning and individual workouts.

"I am excited to join a great program at Dayton," Blauser said. "UD has made great progress over the past few years and I am excited to continue that trend. It is also great step for me personally and I look forward to working with a great staff here at UD."

From 2001-03 she was a graduate assistant at Division II Clarion (Pa.) University where she earned a master's degree in rehabilitative sciences. Blauser created the "Eagles' Nest" youth fan club and was named the 2003 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Graduate Assistant of the Year. She was also instrumental in the development of All-America honoree Heather Cigich while at Clarion.

A 2000 graduate of the University of Illinois, Blauser was first-team All-Big Ten and Illinois team MVP as a junior in 1999, leading the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game and was a nominee for the Naismith Player of the Year. A preseason All-America pick her senior season, she went on to earn second-team All-Big Ten accolades and was named to the WBCA Top 15 Senior All-Star Game after averaging 14.5 ppg and 7.9 rebounds per contest. The Fighting Illini (23-11) spent most of the 1999-00 season ranked in the top 10 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Blauser played her freshman and sophomore seasons at Rutgers where she was named to the Big East All-Rookie team in 1996 and the Rutgers Most Valuable Player in 1997. She was named the Scarlet Knights' Most Courageous Player both years on the roster and was a team captain as a sophomore.

UD has been one of the most improved teams in the nation over the past two seasons under the direction of Head Coach Jim Jabir. In his first season with the Flyers, Dayton won just three games. Last year, UD had the fourth best single-season turnaround in the nation with 12 wins overall for a nine-game improvement. The Flyers have won 17 games in 2005-06 and tied for the second best improvement in the NCAA from the 2003-04 season to the 2005-06 campaign.

Dayton's 17-12 regular season record was not only one of the best turnarounds in the nation, but is among the most successful seasons in Flyer women's basketball history. UD hit the 17-win plateau for just the second time in its Division I history and the first time since in 22 years. This season's win total matches the third most wins since the current Flyer seniors were in preschool (1984-85 season). Dayton was also 8-8 in Atlantic 10 regular season games this season, which was one shy of its most ever wins in A-10 play.

When classes begin at the University of Dayton in August, the men's basketball team will waste no time beginning preparations for the 2006-07 season. Over Labor Day weekend, coach Brian Gregory will take the team, including four newcomers, on a four-day trip to Toronto, Ontario, where the Flyers will play two exhibition games. 

NCAA Division I teams are permitted to take a foreign trip every four years. The Flyers went to Spain in 1997 and to Australia in 2001.

This destination is not as glamorous as the others, but the real value of the trip is that the team is permitted to practice for 10 days before leaving. Because it is during the school year, NCAA rules permit freshmen and transfers to participate. The incoming players were not permitted to accompany the team on the trips to Spain and Australia, which were taken in the spring.

Classes for UD's fall semester begin on Aug. 21. The freshmen move in on Aug. 17. The trip to Canada will not require the players to miss any classes.

In addition to eight returning players, Dayton will have three freshmen — Kurt Huelsman of St. Henry, Marcus Johnson of Akron and London Warren of Jacksonville, Fla. — and junior college transfer Andres Sandoval of Atlanta, Ga., who is attending Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla.

Gregory said most of the veteran players are attending the first session of summer school, which began Saturday. The entire team, including newcomers, will attend the second session, which begins on June 24.

Women's basketball

Vera Jones, who spent two seasons as an assistant on Jim Jabir's UD coaching staff, has left UD to join the staff at Indiana University where she will work with former Syracuse University teammate Felisha Legette-Jack.

IU hired Legette-Jack, head coach at Hofstra the last four years, on April 19.

Six more well-deserved persons were named to the Basketball Hall of Fame last week, without a Tom Blackburn or Don Donoher among them. 

What a shame.

Those were the two coaches who made the University of Dayton  basketball program, and while you might scoff at that and ask, "So what exactly is the Dayton program?" I'd answer when they were coaching, quite a lot.

Blackburn coached the Flyers 17 seasons until his untimely cancer-linked death near the end of the 1964 season. His teams won 20 or more games 10 times, appeared in one NCAA and 10 NITs when the NIT was the tournament to attend. His 1962 team won the NIT. He also directed five runner-up finishes.

Donoher took over for the last three games of 1964 and kept the good times rolling. He lasted 25 seasons, compiled a 437-275 record (Blackburn's was 352-141) and went to eight NCAAs and seven NITs.

The Flyers were runner up in the 1967 NCAA championship and NIT champs the next season — again while the NIT was still a big-time event.

Donoher's teams won 20 or more games eight times, developed more than enough character along the way, and he was well-respected by his peers. Hall of Famer Bobby Knight, not always one for good judgment, is right on the mark counting Donoher as one of his best friends.

Not to belittle anyone who followed Donoher, the Flyers have never quite been the same since he left.

He should be in the Hall of Fame. Blackburn, too.

Sophomore Norman Plummer and freshman Charles Little each received two awards. Plummer was honored for leading the team in rebounds, with a 6.5 average, and for his team spirit. Little was recognized as the outstanding freshman and the most improved player.

The UD coaches selected senior Logan White for the best defender award, and junior Monty Scott earned the free throw shooting trophy by making 79.5 percent (35-44) of his attempts.

Senior Jeff Penno earned the scholar-athlete award, and sophomore Jimmy Binnie was awarded next year's Uhl Family Endowed Scholarship, which goes to a returning player exhibiting good sportsmanship and character on and off the court.

The Bucks’ 6-foot-5 guard bent forward until his mouth was right in front of my nose and then exhaled mightily. The blast of garlic hit like a Terrence Dials elbow to the snoot.

The old Italian eatery on Main Street has been a favorite of certain hoops teams, especially Don Donoher’s Dayton clubs and, as Sullinger said: “Coach swears by the place.”

And who’s to argue with Thad Matta?

When it comes to this area — especially UD Arena, where his Ohio State team meets Davidson today in the NCAA tournament — the Bucks’ coach acts like he owns the place.

He put on a one-man show at the Arena as a player one January night in 1988. He was an assistant coach on the Miami University team that upset Arizona in an NCAA tournament game here in 1995.

Then there were those years at Xavier when his teams beat the host Flyers more than Dayton beat them. And in 2004 the Musketeers won four games here in four days at the Atlantic-10 tournament — knocking off No. 1 Saint Joseph’s, then dumping UD in the title game — to make the NCAA tournament and a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight.

Asked about one moment that stands out, Matta smiled: “I’m not gonna lie. My best memory in this building was when we were seven points down with 1:52 to go my sophomore year. I scored the last eight points and won the game with a last-second shot.”

From the way he beamed, you could tell he suddenly was back in a Butler Bulldog uniform against UD:

“I’d hit two 3s and we called time with 19 seconds to go. Coach called us over and I’ll never forget it as long as I live. He draws up a play and says, ‘We’re gonna get the ball to Tucker and if he’s not open, we get it to Folkes. If Folkes isn’t open, we go to Littrell and if not Littrell, then (Karaffa), you get open.’

“I’m sitting in the huddle saying, ‘I’m the one that got us back in the game’ and, ironically, my teammates were smart enough to get me the ball and I got the shot in.”

He talked of his Miami games here on Herb Sendek’s staff, how the Arena was a sea of red and how he hopes Buckeye fans make it a similar experience today.

Regardless of the fans, OSU players think their coach is the secret weapon. Sullinger said Matta has a formula for winning in the NCAA tournament.

Matta laughed: “Yeah, it’s having great players.”

He’s got some now and he’ll get more next season when he brings in a recruiting class considered one of the best ever assembled in college basketball. Matta used that prospect to dispel a rumor he may be lured to Indiana. He claimed he’s not interested and even if he were, “I love my family and know if I left, I’d be going solo.”

He said he never really understood “the power and magnitude of being at Ohio State,” until he got there.

Even so, there was a slight power fade at Dominic’s.

He got the same waitress who’s served him the last five or six times he’s been in, but she thought he was still at Xavier:

“She didn’t know I was at Ohio State, so it was a little bit of a shock to her But she knows now. She goes, ‘I bleed scarlet and gray.’ ”

And the coach, he breathes garlic.

The power is back.

A field goal drought of 11:27 and more than four minutes without scoring a single point led to the end of  Dayton  basketball season Wednesday as the Flyers fell to St. Joseph's 67-55 in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

Abdulai Jalloh led all scorers with 24 points, 18 in the second half, and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Hawks. Monty Scott led the Flyers with 13 points, and Warren Williams chipped in 12.

“It’s been a tough year,” UD head coach Brian Gregory said. “It’s been tough more so because of the fact that we’ve shown flashes and we’ve done some good things… That’s frustrating for the players and it’s frustrating for the coaches.”

The turning point came with 7:27 to play in the game. Guard Brian Roberts hit a free throw to cut the St. Joseph’s lead to two, but back-to-back UD turnovers led to easy lay-ups for Dwayne Lee and Jalloh, and the Hawks extended their lead to 52-46.

“We got two steals out of our match-up zone,” said St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli. “That put us up six. Up until then, it was tenuous, and that kind of got our feet back underneath us.”

“Those two possessions there where you have a chance to take the lead, but you turn it over and they scored,” Gregory said. “[The Hawks] don’t tend to make those types of mistakes.”

St. Joseph’s continued on a 9-0 run to grab an 11-point lead.

UD would not score again until Brian Roberts hit two free throws with 3:17 left to play. Those points ended a UD scoring drought of 4:10, but the Hawks still led comfortably at 57-48.

Scott buried a 3-pointer with a 1:20 remaining, UD’s first field goal since a Charles Little lay-in at the 12:47 mark. St. Joseph’s, though, converted 19 of 24 second half free throw attempts and shot 79.2 percent from the line in the game to seal the victory.

Jalloh alone made more free throws than the entire Flyers team going 13-14 from the charity stripe. Rob Ferguson scored 16 points and recorded seven boards.

Roberts scored 11 points but made just two of his 14 field goal attempts in the game. UD shot just 32 percent from the floor, and the Hawks scored 15 points off turnovers to just five for the Flyers.

Norman Plummer hit a long jumper four minutes into the game to put the Flyers on top 5-4, but after that point, UD would never see the lead again.

St. Joseph’s outscored the Flyers 22-8 over the next eight minutes of play. A 3-pointer from Ferguson and an open jumper from Dave Mallon put the Hawks up 26-12.

Down 14, UD scored the last seven points of the first half. Plummer scored in the lane, Roberts hit a pull-up three and Scott scored in transition to cut the deficit to 31-24 at halftime.

Ferguson led the Hawks with 10 points and three assists in the first half, and St. Josseph’s made six of its 11 3-point attempts. Roberts and Williams co-led UD with six points at the break.

Early in the second half, Chet Stachitis hit a jumper to extend the Hawks lead to nine, but the Flyers answered. Scott and Williams hit back-to-back treys to leave the score at 35-32 with 17:30 remaining.

A Stachitis 3-pointer and a bucket by Ferguson extended St. Joseph’s lead to 40-32. Warren Williams converted a 3-point play, and with 15:16 remaining, Little rocked a two-handed dunk to cut the deficit to three.

But the Flyers could never tie the game or re-take the lead.

“We had some opportunities and again,” said Gregory, “not able to get over the hump and not able to make the plays on a consistent basis.”

For seniors Williams, Marques Bennett and Logan White, it was their last game in a Flyer uniform. Bennett and White combined to play just nine minutes and did not score in the game.

UD finishes the season at 14-17, its worst record since going 11-17 in the 1998-99 campaign.

Massachusetts used a 12-0 run early in the second half to spark a 66-47 win over Dayton on Saturday. Warren Williams led UD with 13 points.

Memphis coach John Calipari, who led the Minutemen to the 1996 Final Four, was a surprise visitor for a ceremony naming "Jack Lehman Court" for the well-liked former coach and broadcaster.

Calipari, who took a private plane to the event, left after halftime to coach his team against Tulsa on Saturday night in Memphis. He missed a dominant second half for Minuteman, who outscored the Flyers 40-18 after the break.

Rashaun Freeman scored 15 of his 19 points and grabbed nine of his 12 rebounds after intermission for UMass (12-13, 7-7 Atlantic 10).

James Life led all scorers with 25 and held Dayton leading scorer Brian Roberts to nine points on 4-of-10 shooting.

Warren Williams was Dayton's only double-digit scorer. He shot 5-7 from the field, including three-for-three from three-point range. Dayton led 29-26 at the break.

UD (13-15, 5-9 A-10) remains on the road Wednesday. The Flyers play at Saint Louis at 8:00 p.m. EST. Dayton will finish the regular season at home next Saturday against Rhode Island. That Senior Day game will tip-off at 12:00 Noon EST.

The University of Dayton Flyers can't seem to do anything that will change a topsy-turvy season that has been in reverse gear since before Christmas. 

In seasons past, the Flyers might have have gotten a lift from a game with LaSalle. Not this year. Lady Luck turned her back again Saturday afternoon.

The Explorers, who had fallen to the Flyers 11 straight times, refused to make it an even dozen. With Steven Smith scoring 24 points, La Salle (17-7, 9-4) defeated Dayton, 74-71, in front of 3,612 spectators at Tom Gola Arena.

Dayton (12-14, 4-8), which hasn't won an Atlantic 10 Conference game on the road this season, made a strong bid, thanks to a 24-point performance by sophomore guard Brian Roberts, who scored 21 in the second half while battling a sore back.

La Salle made 50 percent of its field goal attempts, 10 of 24 three-pointers and 18 of 24 free throws while continuing to build on its first winning season in 13 years.

UD Coach Brian Gregory blamed the loss on Dayton's lack of defensive energy.

"Defensively, we were very poor," Gregory said. "You can't play that way on the road and expect to win games. You can't let a team shoot 50 percent, you can't let a team shoot 42 percent from 3, you can't let them get nine offensive rebounds on only 23 misses in live action."

After the teams had traded the lead 20 times in a see-saw game, La Salle eased ahead with 9:05 remaining and won its seventh straight game by holding off UD down the stretch. After Roberts sank a 3-point shot with 1:46 remaining, cutting La Salle's lead to 72-71, Dayton couldn't score again.

Neither team gained a decided advantage in the first half until Wright hit a jumper in the lane for her 12th point in less than 12 minutes to put Dayton ahead 17-16 with 9:28 left. From there, the rest of the Flyers caught up and built a 23-18 lead less than three minutes later. However, Saint Joseph's went on a 12-0 run over the next 2:18 and outscored Dayton 15-6 for the remainder of the half to take a 38-29 lead into halftime.

Gomez led the Hawks with 14 first-half points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc to give SJU the lead heading into the locker room despite a UD advantage in shooting (48 percent to 39 percent) and rebounding (18-15). Turnovers also proved to be the difference as the Hawks led 14-0 in points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

UD on 9-2 run over 4:02 to close with nine with 11:48 left to play. The run led to a stretch in which the Flyer defense held the Hawks without a field goal for 6:28. SJU hit 12 free throws during that time while UD scored its next seven points from the charity stripe for a 59-47 Saint Joseph's lead with 9:32 remaining.

From there the Dayton offense got hot again and used a 12-2 run to pull within a pair at 61-59 with 3:58 left. Oakland had seven points to lead the Flyer charge to pull Dayton within two.

Saint Joseph's then made four free throws over the next 3:20 before Dayton answered with a three from Cloxton for a 64-62 SJU advantage. Another Hawks' free throw made it a three-point game with 26 seconds left on the clock. Dayton came down the court and found Lund on the left wing for her only trey of the game with 16.2 seconds remaining to knot the score at 65-all.

The Hawks broke through the full court press and found Ffrench who was fouled while going for a layup. She hit the first free throw and missed the second, but a three-point shot from Cloxton fell short and Saint Joseph's survived 66-65.

Dayton shot 46 percent from the field (23-of-50) and hit 22-of-28 free throws. UD connected on 54.5 percent (12-of-22) in the second half, including four-of-six from three-point range.

Saint Joseph's (9-9 overall, 3-5 A-10) was led by Abdulai Jalloh's 20 points, while Dwayne Lee and Chet Stachitas each added 13. Jalloh hit nine of 10 free throws.

The Hawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first 3:07 behind four free throws from Jalloh and a three from Dwayne Lee. Plummer's tip in and a pair of Williams' free throws cut it to 10-6 before Charles Little tipped in a missed basket to make it a 6-0 UD run. After back-to-back Hawk hoops, Marques Bennett hit a three-pointer from the corner, and Jimmy Binnie hit a three of his own from the wing to tie the game at 14-14 with 11:34 in the first.

The Flyers took the lead on a lay-up by Desmond Adedeji and SJU answered with a three from Jalloh. But Binnie hit a three from the corner for a 19-17 UD lead with 9:32 left in the half. After a three from Lee, Williams hit a three for the Flyers before Jalloh's lay-up tied the game at 22-22.

In response to two SJU baskets, Plummer scored an `and-one' and another bucket inside for a 27-26 lead, but Chet Stachitas beat the shot clock with a three-pointer. Williams tied the game at 29-all with a jumper with 58 seconds left in the half and Roberts hit a three-pointer as the half ended for a 32-29 Dayton lead at the break.

Plummer and Williams each finished the first half with seven points. The Flyers connected on five of 11 three-point attempts. Binnie's two three-pointers gave him six for the half. Plummer and Chris Alvarez each had four rebounds. SJU's Jalloh led all scorers at intermission with 11 points, as he went six-for-six from the free throw line.

At the start of the second half, Williams was fouled in the act of scoring and converted the three-point play for a 35-31 lead. The Hawks charged back to take a 38-37 lead, but Roberts took over for the next five minutes.

With his teammates providing stops on defense, the sophomore guard scored 15-straight UD points over a 4:50 span giving Dayton a nine-point lead and the Hawks never got closer than seven beyond that.

After a reverse lay-up from Bennett, the Flyers took their first double-digit lead of the game on a three from Binnie to make it 57-47 with 10:57 to go.

The Hawks cut the lead to seven before Plummer scored on a high-low feed from Little. After a loose ball scrum that saw virtually every player on the floor literally on the floor, Williams hit an acrobatic lay-up while being fouled. The ensuing free throw gave the Flyers a 66-53 lead with 5:27 remaining.

Williams beat the shot clock with an inside move for two and a 13-point lead, but Lee pulled the Hawks to within 11 with 2:23 to go. But Dayton held on by hitting seven of 11 free three attempts.

The 22 free throws made by the Flyers are the most UD has made all season. Dayton scored 16 points off 12 Saint Joseph's turnovers to beat the Hawks for the fifth time in eight games at UD Arena. UD holds a 14-9 mark in the all-time series, including 8-3 in Dayton.

The Flyers are back in action on Saturday at Charlotte. The Flyers' first A-10 meeting in Charlotte begins at 2:00 p.m. from Halton Arena, and can be seen nationally on ESPN2

After a lay-up by the Bonnies' Priscilla Edwards, Dayton stretched the lead to eight, with a pair of free throws from Karah Cloxton and a jumper from Brittany Holterman. St. Bonaventure cut it to six a minute before the half, but Ramsey went coast to coast for the final basket of the first half and a 28-20 lead at the break.

Wright had six points and six rebounds to lead UD in just 10 minutes of play due to foul trouble. Dayton post players Amber Peterink and Oakland picked up the slack with four points each. Oakland added three rebounds. Ramsey added five first half rebounds.

The Flyers held St. Bonaventure to just 25 percent shooting in the first (9-of-36), while connecting on 10 of 26 for 39 percent. Dayton also out-rebounded the Bonnies 27-17.

The second half opened with a pair of St. Bonaventure baskets, but the Flyers answered with a three from Ramsey and a jumper from Jennifer Strong. Wright stretched the lead to nine with a jumper with 16:12 remaining for a 37-28 lead, forcing the Bonnies to call a timeout.

A pair of free throws from Strong gave Dayton its first double-digit lead of the game, at 41-31, but Wright picked up her fourth foul with 13:33 to go.

Holterman was fouled while scoring inside, and the `and-one' put UD up 44-32 with 11:52 to go. Dayton stretched the lead to 14, at 50-36, after a drive by Cloxton. But the Bonnies trimmed the lead to nine on a basket inside from Audrey Latendresse.

But Strong answered with a leaning bank shot from the paint and Wright scored inside. But the Bonnies cut it to six as Katelyn Murray laid in a basket to make it 57-51 with 2:37 remaining. But after a free throw by Oakland, Wright hit a turnaround jumper to but the Flyers back up nine.

Stefanie Collins hit a three with 1:24 to go, bringing the Bonnies to within 60-55 and after a free throw by Ashley Edwards, Chere Marshall hit a jumper to make it a one-possession game with 54.4

Strong powered inside to make it 62-58, and the two teams traded free throws as the Flyers led 64-60. Edwards hit a pair from the line to bring the Bonnies to within 64-62. Lund went to the line with 16.0 remaining, and the 95.2 percent free throw shooter hit them both.to re-establish a four-point lead.

Murray hit one of two for St. Bonaventure with 8.6 seconds remaining and the Bonnies promptly fouled Cloxton. Marshall came down on the wing and took a deep three, but Cloxton stepped out and got a piece of the shot, which landed well short of the rim as time expired.

Latendresse led the Bonnies with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the year.

The Flyers controlled the boards, 49-40, and tied their highest rebounding total of the season, matching the 49 against Xavier. UD also held a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint.

The win moved Dayton back into fourth place in the A-10, headed into next weekend's match-ups in Philadelphia. The Flyers face sixth-place La Salle (6-4 A-10) on Friday at Gola Arena at 7:00 p.m. and fifth-place Saint Joseph's (7-4 A-10) on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Alumni Memorial Gymnasium.